By the criteria fed to us by Washington, it is hard to tell. The President tells us things are going well and cites jobs numbers that we now know are based on changing criteria and don't actually reflect the true unemployment rate. To listen to the Republican counter argument, we are on the brink of experiencing the same fate as Greece. As usual, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. So I can only base my opinion on the tangibles I can see and prove.
When President Obama took the oath of office, the nationwide price for a gallon of gas was $1.84. It is now $3.51 and we in WNY get the benefit of gas that is inching closer to $4.00. That is an economic indicator that neither Democrats nor Republicans can spin and it is a major one because its implications negatively impact the entire spectrum of the economy.
Spending a little time on Real Estate websites like Zillow show that housing trends in our area are not good in Genesee County. We are fortunate not to have lost home values like other areas of the country, but losing less than someone else is not much consolation for the actual home seller.
I gave the survey and our economy the benefit of the doubt and picked #3. I believe our economy is stagnant right now and don't see a whole lot of positive indicators. Some are going to have a story of a bright spot whether it is their IRA doing well, or their home sale, or their new job, but random individual rays of sunshine do not indicate a sunny economy.
Don't know if it's improving or not; that type of evaluation depends on whether one is on the giving or receiving end. Here's a recent Vanity Fair article:
Former IMF chief economist Joseph Stiglitz has a message for everybody who's sitting around waiting for the economy to "get back to normal." Stop waiting. ‘Cause that train’s gone, and it ain’t coming back.
The people that think the economy is improving are forgetting about their portion of the soon to be $16,000,000,000,000.00 debt they owe. But then again if they wait long enough their need for all this spending will be someone else's liability,so they don't care.
By the criteria fed to us by
By the criteria fed to us by Washington, it is hard to tell. The President tells us things are going well and cites jobs numbers that we now know are based on changing criteria and don't actually reflect the true unemployment rate. To listen to the Republican counter argument, we are on the brink of experiencing the same fate as Greece. As usual, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. So I can only base my opinion on the tangibles I can see and prove.
When President Obama took the oath of office, the nationwide price for a gallon of gas was $1.84. It is now $3.51 and we in WNY get the benefit of gas that is inching closer to $4.00. That is an economic indicator that neither Democrats nor Republicans can spin and it is a major one because its implications negatively impact the entire spectrum of the economy.
Spending a little time on Real Estate websites like Zillow show that housing trends in our area are not good in Genesee County. We are fortunate not to have lost home values like other areas of the country, but losing less than someone else is not much consolation for the actual home seller.
I gave the survey and our economy the benefit of the doubt and picked #3. I believe our economy is stagnant right now and don't see a whole lot of positive indicators. Some are going to have a story of a bright spot whether it is their IRA doing well, or their home sale, or their new job, but random individual rays of sunshine do not indicate a sunny economy.
Don't know if it's improving
Don't know if it's improving or not; that type of evaluation depends on whether one is on the giving or receiving end. Here's a recent Vanity Fair article:
Former IMF chief economist Joseph Stiglitz has a message for everybody who's sitting around waiting for the economy to "get back to normal." Stop waiting. ‘Cause that train’s gone, and it ain’t coming back.
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/01/stiglitz-depression-201201
The people that think the
The people that think the economy is improving are forgetting about their portion of the soon to be $16,000,000,000,000.00 debt they owe. But then again if they wait long enough their need for all this spending will be someone else's liability,so they don't care.